The discrimination complaint filed by former Griswold finance director Barbara Richardson Crouch will proceed to settlement talks and, if those fail, a “mini-trial.”

Crouch, who is black, filed a complaint with the state in June 2011 saying she was the victim of racial discrimination and hostility for the 20 months she worked at Griswold Town Hall, and was retaliated against when she complained about it. Despite leaving her $70,000 post to accept a better-paying job as Lebanon’s finance director in April 2011, she said her departure was not voluntary. She was “constructively discharged,” or forced to leave because of mistreatment, she said in the complaint.

Her case has been pending or under investigation for almost as many months as she worked in Griswold. On Monday, the town was notified in a letter that the investigation had concluded. While the investigator described Crouch’s complaints as “credible,” the commission will seek more information before making a final ruling.

The town has 15 days from Jan. 25, when the letter is dated, to respond to the one-page list of facts the investigation has netted.

The nine facts include details of Crouch’s interactions with 20-year town bookkeeper Debra Dossett Robinson. The two frequently butted heads after Crouch complained to the first selectman that Robinson had been signing financial documents only the finance director could sign, according to the investigative report. The disagreement got racial, according to the report, with Robinson referring to Crouch as a “black (expletive).” The feud came to a head shortly before Crouch accepted the Lebanon position, when Crouch said Robinson walked by her door and loudly said she had to go outside “before I spit in someone’s face,” a comment witnessed by the other bookkeeper in the office, according to the report.

According to the report, Crouch complained about Robinson’s actions to the state police and the first selectman, and said she was retaliated against for complaining when her time sheets were suddenly more heavily scrutinized.

Not included in the list of facts is much of Griswold’s response to Crouch’s initial complaint. The town said in July 2011 that Crouch caused much of the hostility in the finance office, including trying to get the two bookkeepers fired, and harassing the first selectman’s secretary in the office next door until the secretary quit. The town also accused Crouch of falsifying her time cards and of shoddy accounting. After her departure, the town found $1.6 million in budget errors in two years’ worth of budgets.

Crouch also has a lawsuit pending against the town of Lebanon for discrimination and retaliation. Crouch said in that case she was fired, after less than six months of work, after she became a whistle-blower about illegal accounting practices. That town, too, cited issues with her timecards and accounting, and said she rejected the offer of a severance in exchange for resigning.

Page 2 of 2 - Jim O’Neill, the spokesman for the commission, could not comment on Crouch’s case specifically, only on the process in general. From here, Crouch and the town will discuss a potential settlement at a settlement conference. If that fails, the case will move to a public hearing, which O’Neill described as a “mini-trial” of sorts. Only about 5 percent of cases filed ever make it to the public hearing phase, he said.

One of the two attorneys listed as representing Griswold in the suit declined to comment Thursday; the other could not be reached for comment. Crouch did not return a message seeking comment Thursday.